Feature

How to Profit From the Next Wave of Corporate Spending

These four companies should shine as corporate spending shifts from repurchases to reinvestment.

Warren Buffett foreshadowed a new investment trend in his annual letter to investors, released at the start of this month. He boasted that Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries had capital expenditures of $11 billion last year, roughly double their depreciation charges. In other words, they're upgrading plants and equipment twice as fast as they're using them up. Meanwhile, Berkshire spent zero to buy back its shares, because the shares didn't sink below Buffett's cutoff of 120% of book value.